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What is SpamTrap?
SpamTrap is a collection of software tools and filters,
including the leading-edge Spamassassin program,
that filters or screens incoming E-mail messages. The filter identifies
unsolicited/undesirable mail and either flags
it, with a 'tag' on the subject line, or delivers it to a special
SpamTrap folder that is not part of your disk quota, keeping
your inbox clear.
How does SpamTrap work?
The various components of SpamTrap screen each piece of
E-mail for characteristics usually
associated with junk mail. It looks for spam indicators –
phrases, words and other items commonly used in junk mail solicitations.
An example of this might be E-mail that contains the phrase "limited
time offer" or an E-mail that contains a link to a Web site
known to be associated with spam.
SpamAssassin evaluates each piece of mail against a lengthy list
of possible spam indicators. For each spam indicator that it finds,
it assigns a point value. When the points exceed the
threshold level you select,
the E-mail is either flagged as [SPAM] and sent to your Inbox or
delivered to your SpamTrap folder, never reaching
your Inbox.
You can activate additional optional filtering
techniques, such as your Personal Blacklist, Mail
Size Limit, and other features to be added soon, and
these will be flagged or trapped, as you choose. Go to the
Mailfilter Setup page (link below) to view and set the full list of
options.
Note: |
| SpamAssassin will not work if E-mail forwarding
is active on your HWCN account. |
How does HWCN decide which mail to flag and which
mail to reject?
There are two distinct 'categories' of junk mail:
- HWCN automatically rejects any e-mail which has come from sources on
the internet previously identified as spam sources on internet
blacklists, or which scores excessively high (10 or more) in
Spamassassin. The chances of any of this mail being legitimate
is very low, but there is no concern about mail being
'lost' - Legitimate senders will be notified of the rejection. This
filter is system-wide, and not user selectable.
- Mail with a SpamAssassin score lower than 10, but higher than
your chosen score threshold, or matching your personal filter options,
will be flagged or delivered to your SpamTrap folder, as you
choose. The sender will not receive any notice if the mail goes to
your SpamTrap, so it is your responsibility to review the SpamTrap
folder (via the new webmail portal) for possible legitimate mail. With a
bit of care and experimentation, you can choose personal settings that
result in the maximum filtering of junk with few or no 'false positives'.
How do I use SpamTrap to filter my
mail?
There are two ways in which you can use SpamTrap
– Flag Mode and Trap Mode. Either mode can be
used in conjunction with your Personal Whitelist, which lists
senders and subjects that you want to alays have accepted as legitimate.
We suggets that you to work in Flag Mode to begin with. In Flag
Mode, E-mail that is suspected to be SPAM is still sent to your
mailbox. It will come with the point score that was assigned to
it by SpamAssassin prepended to the subject line.
The system default for point score is 5.0. The point score
can be altered by you to suit your individual preferences. If you
find that at 5.0 points you are still receiving more junk mail than
you care to, adjust the point score to a lower value. If you find
that at 5.0 points some E-mail that you wish to receive is being
marked as SPAM, you need to adjust the point score to a higher value.
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Note: |
| The lower the setting, the greater the chance
that some legitimate E-mail may be marked as spam. The higher
the setting the greater the volume of spam that will not be
marked. |
Once you are comfortable that SpamAssassin and your other
filter options are filtering your mail
in a manner acceptable to you, we recommend changing your preference
to Trap Mode. When you choose this mode, all mail
flagged as SPAM will be delivered to a special
SpamTrap folder that is not part of your disk quota. This
mail can be viewed and/or moved to your
normal mailbox using the HWCN Web E-mail
Portal (text users will find the 'SpamTrap' folder in alternate
folder list of their "Alpine" mail reader). Important: Mail is only kept
in the SpamTrap for two weeks from the date of delivery.
After that, the mail is deleted.
Most members use their E-mail accounts to correspond with a regular
list of people. A “Whitelist” is a list of those regular
contacts. When a contact is on your Whitelist, you will ALWAYS receive
mail from that address. You can, at any time, add new addresses
to your Whitelist or remove old addresses. A Whitelist can also
include a list of subjects that interest you. For example, you have
subscribed to and want to receive a regular newsletter that comes
from one of your favourite Web sites. You know that the subject
line for that E-mail will always contain the word “health”.
When you add the word “health” to your Whitelist, any
E-mail containing that word in the subject line will be delivered
to your Inbox.
How do I begin using
SpamTrap?
Read and agree to the following, then enter your User ID and password
to proceed to the mail filter setup.
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